CHAPTER 4 RESULTS
4.3 THE VIEWS OF EDUCATORS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A PRACTICAL EXAMINATION
54
Figure 3: Participants teaching load, Life Sciences, and other subjects.
4.3 THE VIEWS OF EDUCATORS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A PRACTICAL
55
various perspectives on a practical assessment, an open-ended questionnaire was used. Using content analysis coding, the perceptions of grade 10 and 11 life sciences educators on how a practical examination was conducted are separated into two main categories: unfavourable and favourable perceptions. (Kim, Wang, Kang, Choi, &
Coba-Rodriguez, 2020; Cambray-Engstrom et al).
Four percent of Life Sciences teachers in Grades 10 and 11 have favourable perceptions toward the establishment of practical exams, although they are still against it. Modernized learning in the life sciences classroom considers both the presence and the utility of external factors. For instance, demonstrating cellular respiration to learners in grade 11 Life sciences is necessary to remove misconceptions among them that only animals have cellular respiration and plants are capable of photosynthesis only.
Learning will be challenging for the pupils if we use chalk and speech to clarify these contrasts.
Data also shows that practical examinations help learners gain a general understanding of why things occur the way they do. Effective teaching of the Life Sciences begins with practical examination, which fosters creativity, originality, and imagination. Teachers are astonished to learn that despite their best efforts, learners cannot fully understand the theoretical material they teach in their Life Sciences classes until they conduct practical examinations (Alias & Ibrahim, 2016).
Even those who can provide the finest answers do so only because they were able to recall words; otherwise, they would have little to no knowledge of scientific principles (Smith & Kleinman,1989).
From quoted text below, educator's useful opinions in teaching and learning were displayed through the energy of the learners when partaking in practical examination.
The passion of educator’s typically moves to the learners, which similarly animates the disposition of both included.
Learners are truly eager from the beginning of practical examinations activities; from the moment I bring equipment to class they even tell their friends to keep quite if they disturb their focus. During practical classes learners never stop asking questions some of which are a bit difficult to answer. After performing such practical learners come the following day
56
and say “educator we saw” or “we also searched” which invigorates them more (T11, appendix I).
Another teacher made it clear in her lessons that the learners enjoyed hands-on activities, and she went into detail about how their teaching strategies had evolved to enhance the quality of the learning experiences. Practical examinations should be used as one of the evaluation techniques instead of providing short-term information that is just useful for evaluating objects, since this will benefit talented learners (Sims, 2006).
This teacher made it obvious that during practical examinations, learners started to relate the subject matter to reality and stored their understanding in their long-term memory.
When learners moved to a field camp and returned with information and images for a previously taught practical examination, recently completed encounters were changed into entirely produced experiences (see appendix I, T23). Even the most reserved kid in the classroom was interested and engaged with others via questions and answers, some questions were even challenging for the teacher at times but also fascinating as opposed to simply having the same learners asking questions while others just quet and watch. While the researcher was compiling questionnaires, this energy was also demonstrated to him:
We were walking outside our school and there was a great deal of plants, and they (learners) quickly yelled "Educator, take a look at the vegetation, take a look at the vegetation!" Do you understand, they would not have seen that vegetation should we not have decided to leave classroom and observe the environment in a specific manner… they would have walked over it and would not have understood what it is (T23, Appendix I).
The trip was purposefully planned, so everything was obvious, and learners were able to understand the material that had already been covered in their Life Sciences classes, according to Appendix I (T23). The teacher confirmed that learners enjoyed the time allowed to conduct independent research and that this option was present.
Finally, the teacher made it clear that the advantages of experience learning in the setting of the classroom encouraged receptivity to varied circumstances and systems.
The decision to schedule a short walk around the school with their Grade 10 Life
57
Sciences learners was made because of their willingness to be more open (Pherson- Geyser, 2020).
A staggering 96 percent of Life Sciences educators in grades 10 and 11 felt negatively about the entire process of administering a practical assessment and the subsequent practical test. The 4 percent positive perceptions displayed is also only associated with one factor—positive answers from learners during practical exams—and not with how those exams affect learners' performance. According to educators, improvising throughout the course of the year is easier than it is during practical exams. This good aspect can be linked to a bad aspect of how a practical exam is conducted, which leads to the conclusion that Grades 10 and 11 Life Sciences teachers have a negative attitude about the implementation of a practical exam. The expressed negative opinions are listed in Table 1.
About 96% of educators indicated that they lack resources. This makes educators think they are burdening the society since they must send learners to their parents for assistance. They do, however, acknowledge the fact that learners embrace learning through doing and they are magnificent to do it every day, lack of resources makes it demand only on their side to perform practical work. The trifecta of an educator, learner and parent is truly tested during these implementations. Educators articulated that they lack resources to perform even the most basic experiments in Life Sciences, yet they are expected to be scapegoats for such problems.
Coronavirus disease -2019 (COVID -19) has exacerbated the situation (Chadwick &
McLoughlin, 2020). It forced drastic changes in every layer of life. As it is required that social distancing and sometimes lockdown, which drives educational system to uncharted territories at a very rapid pace with little or no time to adjust (Flugelman, Margalit, Aronheim, Barak, Marom, Dolnikov, Braun, Raz-Pasteur, Azzam, Hochstein &
Haddad, 2021). Access to suitable and reliable technology was stated as a major problem to perform simulations and video demonstrations. Here are typical responses.
‘No, our school does not have neither a laboratory nor any resources to implement practical examinations. In some years I get to an extent of buying material with my own money just to allow my kids to know what learning through practice is. Some
58
years I just omit the practical and let learners write a quick test to avoid getting into debts” (T25 Appendix I)
This lack of resources for educators and learners of Life sciences remains one of the biggest challenges that face specifically poor South African schools. Basic education departments claims that its budget is skewed in favour of poor schools, but this research reveals dire situation (Maistry, 2021). Those schools that a department classified as quintile 1,2 and 3 or the so called no fee schools are the most suffering because they are based in poor areas. Life sciences educators go to the extent of borrowing equipment from nearby schools because they cannot wait for resources to be provided to them, that takes forever.
“No, the school does not have any resources, we normally borrow from neighbouring schools, but if learners break that equipment, I will be held responsible” (T31 Appendix I)
Apartheid legacy in South African schools and the consequent correlation between wealth and education means poor learners will perform worse academically (Spaull, 2013). This is regardless of the abolishment of racial segregation 20 years ago. Schools remain dysfunctional and are unable to implement basic practical examination to lower grades than Grade 12 because educators are trying to save little resources, they have for Grade 12 (Spaull, 2015). This confirms that grade 10 and 11 learners receive poor education at the expense of grade 12 learners.
“No, the school has no lab and as such the little resources the school has are meant for certain topics most of which are for Grade 12’s” (T21 Appendix I)
Even the 4% of grade 10 and 11 Life Sciences educators who said their schools had resources also said they lacked the training to effectively use the resources for the successful execution of a practical (work) assessment. Educators’ confidence in the implementation of a practical examination is affected by these difficulties. Lack of training give rise to lack of knowledge for educators, which becomes a challenge to some educators required to implement practical examination. The education white paper 6 also acknowledges this gap and calls inclusive education (DoE, 2011). It even
59
announced the intention of minister of National Education to appoint the commission that will investigate educators training needs (Ladbrook, 2009).
Life Sciences educators further indicated through their responses that even those schools that have laboratories, are not well equipped, and they themselves lack training in the implementation of a practical examination (Kanamugire, Yadav & Mbonyiryivuze 2019). The training educators received from tertiary institutions needs to be perennial for improvement of their content delivery:
“No, as an old school educator I was trained in the more classical teaching of that time. It took some time to be acquitted with the new methods” (T19 Appendix I)
Through continuous learning, educators’ skills would be supported that would in overall increase their knowledge and improve their teaching. The absence of this therefore makes it difficult for Life sciences educators to understand what is expected of them during practical examination implementation because they lack a clear vision of what it means to successfully implement practical examination.
“I am trained and qualified to teach Biology; however, I do not think the practical component of my course is adequate to conduct a demonstration or facilitate practical at school” (T29 Appendix I)
The department of basic education cannot expect educators to successfully implement practical examination because educators are not productive since they lack current and proficient tools to implement such assessment. Teaching style, technology, and skills changes over time, so the department must commit to training educators to prepare them for an ever-changing education system (Hampel &
Stickler, 2005).
“No in my 27 years of teaching, I have never received any formal training on the implementation of practical examination;
my plea is that the government must train us for some weeks, more especially during the end of the year vacations. So that we become used to them” (T23 Appendix I)
60
At least 98% of Grade 10 and 11 educators have complained that a practical examination does nothing except add to their workload and take their time, and they are not even supported to implement it. If the department is really concerned about learners’ education, they should also care about educator’s workload too, because it can contribute a great deal to educators’ perception. Once educators stress level is too high it can interfere with their sleep, health and even their work quality (Samaden, 2021). Below are some views on this:
“At times it becomes difficult for you as an educator to improvise that contributes a lot in the learner’s knowledge gap, I am also hesitant to improvise given the fact that some learners are allergic to some chemicals and others drink poisonous substances” (T11 Appendix I)
This causes educator turnover; you find most educators leaving classroom at least after one year. This will mean many learners are mostly taught by novice educators (Singer, 1993). The department experts more from educators then they support them.
the mandate has increased but educational support has not increased including resources given to educators.
“Is strenuous since we have to teach other learning areas as well, the load is too heavy to carry since we lack infrastructure and chemicals to carry practical out” (T39 Appendix I)
Data presented in the table 1 below summaries the responses of 96% of Grade 10 and 11 educator’s negative perceptions about the implementation of a practical examination that follows conducting practical examination. Contributing to this negativity is the fact that Grade 10 and 11 Life Sciences educators have little or no input in the structuring of the practical examination question papers. Educators are not happy that a practical examination comes in the form of written test with recall type questions, which they associate with theory rather than practice. Furthermore, the educators are worried by the fact that question papers received from the department are outdated, repetitive, not diverse and does not cover the whole scope of the content taught. Educators' perceptions are thought to have a negative impact on how they
61
carry out their everyday teaching responsibilities (Tawana 2009). This in turn deprives learners of an opportunity for different types of assessments.
Table 1: Educators negative perceptions on practical examination
Perceptions
Number of educators
Percentage
%
Lack of resources 43 96
Increase workload 44 98
Time-consuming 44 98
Educators are not well trained 43 96
No support for implementation 44 98
Less of it is practical, mostly theoretical
45 100
High numbers of learners per class 27 60
They cover narrow scope/ repetitive 18 40
Further insight into Grade 10 and 11 Life Sciences educators’ perceptions and how they manage to implement a practical examination as required by CAPS is explored in section 4.4 below.
4.4 FINDINGS IN TERMS OF HOW EDUCATORS’ CONDUCT A PRACTICAL